There?s nothing beyond music, says Amonkar

NOTED CLASSICAL singer Kishori Amonkar feels that classical music has direct relation with the ?atman?, but unfortunately this form of music had not been able to garner an audience like contemporary popular music.

NOTED CLASSICAL singer Kishori Amonkar feels that classical music has direct relation with the ‘atman’, but unfortunately this form of music had not been able to garner an audience like contemporary popular music.

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“There is not a single TV channel that relates to the purity of classical music. If there were a show of Sonu Nigam and a classical music presentation, which one would draw a larger crowd? Obviously the first one,’’ she says. “ It is really lamentable that we are aping the west in all fields. Not just music, we have become slaves of the west in all spheres. We even dress up like them while blindly dwarfing our own culture.”

‘‘But, notwithstanding the penetration of western culture, I would say that the truth, that is the essence of classical music, can be ruined but it cannot be buried. There is a difference in popularity (prasiddhi) and fame (kirti). Tasting the flavour of popularity is an ordinary thing. But fame (Kirti) is something that has a higher and deeper meaning.’’

There is just no short cut route than can be traversed for it. I strongly feel that a shishya (disciple) should stick to one guru (teacher) rather than hopping from one guru to other.”

How did she see the future of Indian classical music? “I am no one to comment on this. Only God will unfold the future.”

How was music as a therapy? “Something that is sung from the ‘atman’ does not need any therapy,” she points. And, what was the true interpretation of classical music? “It is something beyond which there is nothing.”